The police in Okitipupa, Ondo State, are trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of a 20-year old boy found hanging in his mother’s kitchen.

According to reports, the police want to determine whether the boy, Wale Lijoka, committed suicide or was murdered.

Lijoka was found yesterday in a room at No. 2, Olanusi Avenue, a close between Okeloro and Lebi streets in Okitipupa.

The body of the deceased was found dangling from the ceiling of his mother’s kitchen.

The mother of the deceased, Mrs. Moyin Lijoka, said that the deceased could not have hanged himself, alleging that his death was a conspiracy of friends he had misunderstanding with.

She said the boy, who was an aluminium construction apprentice in Lagos, came to Okitipupa on August 18, 2013, to visit her. “I called him on Tuesday evening to follow me to the church for prayers but he refused, only for me to wake up this morning to find his corpse in my kitchen.

“He could not have killed himself; I believe some assailants killed him and hanged him in my kitchen just to cover-up because his legs are not far from the ground. I have called his father, who is a police officer in Ilorin and he said he doesn’t want to have any issue with the boy’s death, that we should do what pleases us,” Lijoka said.

Meanwhile, a sympathiser, who preferred to be addressed simply as, Mrs. Ajoke, also corroborated the mother’s claim that the boy could not have killed himself. “I saw him when he came home but I don’t know if he quarrelled with anyone. From what I observed his body might have been dumped here and made to look like suicide,” Ajoke said.